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Iranian Authorities Only Respond to Firm Policy

Staff Writer
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Iranian Authorities Only Respond to Firm Policy

Following Iran’s announcement that it had executed French resident Ruhollah Zam, several European countries pulled out of a Europe-Iran Business Forum and the European Union condemned the execution “in the strongest terms” in a statement that reiterated its opposition to the death penalty and raised concerns of a systematic denial of due process in Iran’s Judicial system.

These are vital first steps but holding Iran to account for human rights violations cannot end with a statement and a canceled—or worse, postponed—business summit.

The decision by France, Germany, Austria, and Italy to pull proves that reducing relations with Iran will have more of an effect on the ayatollahs’ behavior than maintaining them. However, why is this not the policy towards Iran all the time? After all, Iran’s egregious crimes against humanity have been well documented for over 41 years.

Why are these countries—and many more—content to appease the Iranian government rather than hold them to account for their actions? When do they know that getting away with these actions only emboldens the Iranian authorities to commit more crimes, including on European soil and against European residents or citizens?

EU Must Adopt a Firm Policy Against Tehran’s Terror Attacks

One of these long-ignored crimes—the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners—was recently described by United Nations human rights experts as an example of ongoing crimes against humanity for the enforced secrecy surrounding it. They demanded a response from Tehran– and promises of an investigation – by September, but this never came and now the experts are calling for an international investigation through the publication of the letter.

“[Previous failures by the international community to investigate] had a devastating impact on the survivors and families as well as on the general situation of human rights in Iran and emboldened Iran to continue to conceal the fate of the victims and to maintain a strategy of deflection and denial that continue to date,” the letter read.

That the government has ignored this letter shows just how used the ayatollahs are to their problems going away and the international community letting them slide. After all, officials have even said publically that they were proud to take part in the massacre of non-violent activists, including children.

Following the European pushback over Zam’s execution, Tehran summoned for questioning the French and German ambassadors in Tehran as a protest, claiming that the execution was none of their business, even though Zam had refugee status in France and was kidnapped by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The government is terrified of being held to account, which is why the world must do it.

Tehran Still Dodges Investigating Murderers of 176 Passengers of PS752 Flight

Mehdi Hosseini
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Tehran Still Dodges Investigating Murderers of 176 Passengers of PS752 Flight

Iran started 2020 by losing Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force (IRGC-QF), during a U.S.-drone strike in Baghdad. In response, authorities took harsh revenge—not on the U.S. but on Iranian citizens.

On January 8, the IRGC Aerospace Forces (IRGC-AF) bragged about a massive missile attack on U.S. troops hosted in Ain al-Assad base, northern Iraq. The attack left no casualties among the “Great Satan’s infantry.” However, several hours later, the IRGC-AF shot down a commercial flight, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.

Iran’s Missile attack, Taking Revenge from the U.S. or Iranians

Iranian officials immediately denied the IRGC’s involvement in the incident. They continued their denials for three days until reliable satellite evidence and footage proved that two missiles downed the Flight PS752 of the Ukrainian Airlines.

On January 11, IRGC-AF chief Amir-Ali Hajizadeh admitted that the IRGC air defense system shot down the airplane. However, he outlined “human error” as the reason for the villainous tragedy. He also admitted that he and his superiors knew that the IRGC anti-aircraft system had targeted the jetliner at the beginning hours.

However, after more than 11 months, Iranian authorities gave no answers to grieving families and international parties whose people were on the plane. According to international aviation laws, Tehran should lead the investigation, which permitted it to wipe away its footprints.

In such circumstances, when the reason comes to military activities, outsider analysis is further restricted. Sovereignty is afforded to the perpetrator and the review is essentially eliminated when that country does not have an independent civil aviation authority or transparent judicial system, which Iran does not.

In their ‘investigations,’ judiciary officials raised ridiculous explanations to downplay the IRGC’s crime. Despite routine night vision, video, radar, and other identification systems, Tehran claims that “the operator was apparently unable to distinguish friend from foe.”

This is while the 40-meter-long civilian jetliner had just taken off from Khomeini international airport. If these words were right, how could Iranian officials dare use their private and smaller airliners? Furthermore, the enemies’ missiles or fighters were undoubtedly supposed to come from western borders, not from the country’s heart to the border.

Iranian officials also say, “The operator acted unilaterally and fired two surface-to-air missiles.” This is another ironic excuse because if it was true, this act is in direct violation of applicable procedures not to fire at all without his command center’s authorization.

In such a scenario, aside from any consequence, the operator had acted as a rogue element that wasted defense reserves. Therefore, this violation should have made the operator and the assistant accountable and prone to be prosecuted in a military court.

The fact that evidence clearly shows the reason was not a ‘human error’ as a significant number of other commercial passenger jets took off and landed at the international airport before and after PS752 without being attacked. On the other hand, even if there was a human error, why did the authorities initially downplay the event and lay blame on the pilot and airliner’s manufacturer? Why did they delay to hand over the black box for six months?

Based on these undeniable documents and reasons, on December 16, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs François-Philippe Champagne said in an interview with CBC News that he doesn’t believe Iran when it says Flight 752 was shot down as a result of human error.

Earlier, in a 74-page report, Canada’s special adviser on the federal response to Iran’s shootdown of the airliner Ralph Goodale rejected Tehran’s ‘investigations.’ “There are indications of incompetence, recklessness and wanton disregard for innocent human life. It is incumbent upon Iran to respond to these concerns in candid and compelling terms or risk the loss of international confidence in its ability to maintain a safe airspace,” Goodale noted.

Tehran is not eligible to lead the investigations. Iranian authorities would never investigate themselves, not least since their record includes arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions, and gross human rights violations. Therefore, the countries that lost their citizens must refer the case to the United Nations Security Council and call for an impartial and international trial.

Harsh Treatment of Iranian Political Prisoners

Ayatollahs Avoid Allocating Budget to Resolve Khuzestan Water Crisis

Staff Writer
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Ayatollahs Avoid Allocating Budget to Resolve Khuzestan Water Crisis

Iran is the richest country in the world in terms of natural gas reserves and the third richest in oil reserves, according to the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), with most of the reserves being in the southern Khuzestan province. Khuzestan also has seven rivers, including Karun, one of the country’s biggest, and five major dams.

Given the wealth of natural resources and water, why have so many people there been suffering from a lack of potable water over the past few years?

Water Crisis in Iran Felt Most by Poorest

Back in August, MP Mojtaba Yousefi advised that 800 villages in Khuzestan have no access to safe drinking water on a regular basis and that there was not yet the budget to fix the dire situation. Meanwhile, Khuzna news agency reports that 700 villages lack running water and have to rely on tankers.

And the situation gets worse still.

“Potable water quality in the suburbs is less than 50 percent. Our concern is not limited to the microbial contamination of the water. The water lacks chlorine or does not contain any chlorine. If the Water Organization is busy with infrastructural issues, they can at least control the amount of the chlorine,” said Dr. Mehran Ahmadi Balutaki, the head of West Ahvaz Health Centre, which is inside the provincial capital, on December 11

That’s right. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and a flood crisis, which the government has failed to confront, the people of Khuzestan are also being subjected to a lack of water purification. In Ahvaz, the potable water was mixed with sewage, according to Gholamreza Qasemian, the head of Meshkat seminary, on December 7, creating a real danger to those forced to drink it.

“It is not tolerable to see the mixing of water and sewage where 200 billion cubic meters of water is stored behind its dams. Allocation of 3 percent of oil income to Khuzestan province is a considerable budget. An investigation is needed into why a significant amount of this budget has not been paid,” said Hassan Darwishian, the head of the Inspection Organization of Iran, on December 8.

Iran: 2021-22 Budget Bill and Economic Crisis

He further stated that this budget would be able to solve many problems in Khuzestan if it were actually paid.

The government claims to have spent more than $47 million in the Khuzestan cities of Mahshar and Khomeini Port but due to systematic corruption, it is unclear exactly how this has been spent. Much of Iran’s wealth is spent by the ayatollahs on a nuclear program, ballistic missiles, the export of terrorism, and domestic repression.

In June, the people of Khuzestan protested the water crisis again and the authorities cracked down violently.

UN General Assembly Condemns Human Rights Violations in Iran

Jubin Katiraie
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UN General Assembly Condemns Human Rights Violations in Iran

On Wednesday, December 16, 2020, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution censuring the grave and systematic violation of human rights in Iran, marking the 67th time UN bodies have adopted resolutions condemning rights abuses in Iran. The resolution gained 82 affirmative votes, declaring the international community’s deep concerns about the human rights conditions in the country.

The latest condemnation by the UN’s highest human rights body indicates that other countries are following developments inside Iran and they are aware of the government’s atrocities against its citizens. This issue signals to the ayatollahs that contrary to previous years, they cannot do whatever they want against the people, Iran experts say. Furthermore, due to their fragile socioeconomic conditions, the world would not turn a blind eye to their crimes and would consider human rights conditions as a pivotal element in any talks.

The resolution condemns the “high frequency of the imposition and carrying-out of the death penalty” in Iran. The UNGA also mentions the Iranian government’s international obligations, including executions undertaken against persons on the basis of forced confessions.

Since the November 2019 anti-government protests, Iranian interrogators and judiciary officials have practiced extreme and inhuman torture on detainees, pushing them to confess to alleged crimes. According to former prisoners, several arrestees lost their lives under severe torture and other ill-treatment.

On September 2, 2020, Amnesty International provided damning information obtained through 60 interviews with released detainees of the November 2019 protests. They testified that interrogators and torturers committed horrible crimes including beating, flogging, sexual abuses, and mock executions to coerce protesters to make televised confessions.

Also, on December 3, 2019, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli ordered the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Organization (IRIB) to air forced ‘confessions’ of those arrested during the ‘unrest and riot.’ This order prompted criticism even inside the government.

Criticism From Inside Iran’s Government Over Broadcasting of Forced Confessions

Notably, judiciary officials file forced confessions as reliable evidence to sentence defendants to long-term prison and also the death penalty. Mostafa Salehi and Navid Afkari were hanged in August and September respectively based on torture-tainted admissions. They frequently rejected their words, announcing that their confessions were under torture. However, ‘judges’ gave no care and handed down their execution sentences.

The UNGA resolution also points out to death sentences issued and implemented for “crimes that do not qualify as the most serious crimes, including crimes that are overly broad or vaguely defined.” The UN considers these merciless executions a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Tehran has sentenced the most number of minors to death globally. The UNGA announced its concerns over “the continued imposition of the death penalty against minors,” which is in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Resolution also called on the religious dictatorship ruling Iran to release all political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, civil rights activists, and human rights defenders immediately and unconditionally. Currently, there are thousands of people in Iran’s prisons, who have been held due to their political thoughts or faith, according to human rights experts.

In November 2019, during the bloodiest suppression in the Islamic Republic’s history, authorities arrested over 12,000 peaceful protesters, in addition to murdering at least 1,500 citizens, including women and children. Up to now, Iran’s judiciary has yet to prosecute agents who used lethal force against unarmed demonstrators. Instead, under the leadership of Ebrahim Raisi, one of the known perpetrators of the mass killings of political prisoners in 1988, the judiciary has issued many death sentences against arrested protesters.

Deaths Under Torture for Arrested Iran Protesters

Through the 67th resolution condemning human rights violations in Iran, the UNGA also declared its concerns about the prevalence of Covid-19 in Iran’s prisons. Many reports show that the authorities have left prisoners without basic health and hygienic equipment. Sources from prisons also acknowledged that a number of prisoners have died of the novel coronavirus so far. However, the Prison Organization rejects the news and severely tries to cut off prisoners’ communication with the outside. The guards’ efforts well show the vile conditions of prisoners and the threats posed to their lives and health.

The Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) welcomed the adoption of the 67th UN resolution, condemning the grave and systematic violation of human rights in Iran. NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi said, “the main perpetrators of the atrocities mentioned in this resolution are those who have been continuously involved in crimes against humanity during that past four decades, particularly the massacre of political prisoners in 1988, the brutal suppression of the November 2019 uprising that leftover 1,500 protesters killed, and 12,000 arrested.”

“Clerical regime leaders must face justice for four decades of crimes against humanity, putting an end to their impunity,” she said, adding, “where the religious fascism ruling Iran does not pay the slightest attention to the UN General Assembly resolutions, it is time for the Iranian regime’s human rights dossier to be referred to the UN Security Council and the regime’s leaders to be held accountable for four decades of crimes against humanity.”

EU Policy on Tehran Leads to Terrorism

Staff Writer
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EU Policy on Tehran Leads to Terrorism

The European Union’s appeasement policy towards Iran has led to the ayatollahs feeling emboldened to commit acts of terror on European soil, including the attempt to bomb an opposition rally in Paris, for which Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi and three accomplices are currently on trial.

Trial of Iranian Terrorists Should Restrict Tehran’s Terror Machine

The Bomb Plot Against the Iranian Opposition’s Rally in 2018

In summer 2018, Assadi and his accomplices were arrested in Germany, Belgium, and France after they tried to bomb a rally in France that was attended by 100,000 people, including hundreds of dignitaries and Resistance President Maryam Rajavi.

Assadi brought the 500 grams of TATP explosives in his diplomatic luggage from Iran to Austria, where he was the third secretary at the Iranian embassy. He then handed the bomb off to Amir Sadouni and Nasimeh Naami on June 28, 2018, in Luxembourg.

Sadouni and Naami were arrested driving through Belgium and the bomb was found in their bags. Assadi was arrested in Germany, driving back from the meet, where he, importantly, did not have diplomatic immunity. The fourth person was in France and was supposed to watch the bomb explode and text Assadi to confirm.

Goes Right to the High-ranking Iranian Officials

Assadi is not a rogue agent, according to the Belgian prosecutor. He was an agent of the Intelligence Ministry and working on the direction of the highest levels of the government. The plan was approved by the Supreme National Security Council, headed by President Hassan Rouhani, in a session attended by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Zarif, of course, denies this and calls the bomb plot a “false flag”, but why then did he order Assadi not to appear in court and answer questions? Surely, if the Iranian authorities were not involved, they would cooperate. This is a big indication of guilt, but still, the EU falsely regards Zarif as a “moderate”, even as he plots terrorism in their borders.

The fact is that negotiating with criminals like Zarif only makes them feel like it is acceptable to pursue malign objectives like this.

“The foiled bomb plot in 2018 proved that the EU’s appeasement policy would make EU citizens and overall security the first victims of those ‘turbaned crocodiles’ in Tehran… Holding the regime to account and taking a firm step to counter its terrorism will certainly secure peace in our time,” the Iranian opposition wrote.

They called for Europe to:

  • sanction Zarif and the Iranian Foreign Ministry for terrorism
  • shut down the regime’s embassies and so-called cultural centers
  • expel Iran’s agents

 

Iran: Covid-19 Vaccine and Ayatollahs’ Dirty Business

Sia Rajabi
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Iran: Covid-19 Vaccine and Ayatollahs’ Dirty Business

Following the World Health Organization (WHO)’s approval for the Covid-19 vaccine, governments prioritize purchasing this magical elixir to contain the health crisis. In the past week, thousands of people in different countries received vaccine shots, and media reported that many shipments of coronavirus vaccines have transferred to various regions across the globe.

Contrary to other countries, Iranian authorities refrained from purchasing vaccines ‘for the people,’ claiming, “There are various barriers for purchasing and importing the Covid-19 vaccine to the country.”

This is pursuant to the ayatollahs’ known excuse to blaming citizens and foreigners for all the country’s dilemmas. “The address of all troubles is the White House,” said President Hassan Rouhani during a cabinet meeting in September.

“The [Covid-19 ] vaccine’s payment is ready, there are will and order [to purchase the vaccine], but America is the obstacle,” Rouhani said on December 9.

Earlier on December 7, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati had also claimed, “U.S. sanctions do not permit banking transactions for purchasing the vaccine from COVAX.”

In response, the spokesperson for Geneva-based Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, rejected Tehran’s top banker allegations. “There is no legal barrier to Iran procuring vaccines through COVAX as the U.S. Treasury’s Office on Foreign Assets Control had issued a license covering coronavirus vaccine procurement,” the spokesperson told media on December 7.

Iran’s Economy Suffers from State-Backed Mafia, Not Sanctions

A few days later, an Iranian state-run paper unveiled the truth about officials’ baseless explanations. “Regarding the coronavirus vaccine, officials announced that importing foreign vaccines is impossible. However, we witness that coronavirus vaccines have been imported from credible countries and are used by officials, their children [Aghazadeh], and relatives,” Aftab-e Yazd daily wrote on December 14.

Notably, at the beginning of the pandemic in Iran and while officials argued the lack and shortage of kits for Covid-19 tests, in their political rivalries, some sources exposed that the government had imported and allocated 1,500 kits only to members of the Parliament (Majlis).

These facts declare that sanctions, U.S. policies, and banking transactions are just explanations to justify the government’s failures. The truth is that there are Covid-19 vaccines, and the government imports from credible companies but not ‘for the people and their health.’ The vaccines are for authorities, their relatives, and inner-cycle agents.

The State-Backed Medicine Mafia Uses Covid-19 as a Spoil

More harmfully, some influential individuals and entities sabotage are importing large dimensions of Coivd-19 vaccines to the country. These individuals and entities account for the state-backed medicine mafia in Iran, under the thumb of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Inside the Systematic Hoarding of Face Masks in Iran

In fact, the mafia proposed to line its pockets with immense privileges of ‘domestic vaccines,’ while professionals say there is no forecast for Iran-made vaccines until the next summer.

“Iranian companies and institutions need time to reach tangible results in producing the coronavirus vaccine. During this period, we will once again be held back in the fight against Covid-19,” Mehr news agency quoted Abbas Aghazadeh, head of General Assembly of Iran’s Medical Apparatus Organization, as saying on December 7.

He also revealed how officials’ cultural, political, and ideological prejudices cost people’s lives. “When the lives of millions of Iranians are at stake, one cannot insist on cultural, political, and ideological competitions,” Aghazadeh added.

Furthermore, in its December 14 edition, Jahan-e Sanat daily shed lights on officials’ profiteering purposes to plunder needy and coronavirus-hit people. “Iran’s Food and Medicine Organization is under pressure to approve domestic vaccine and anti-coronavirus medicine because the Health Ministry’s approval means siphoning massive incomes for drug companies,” the daily wrote.

Though, who are—it is better to be said, ‘who is’—the owner of these companies? According to media and reliable evidence, the IRGC approximately owns all drug-maker and -distributer companies in Iran. These companies follow as:

– Barkat Pharmaceutical holding and its subordinated companies affiliated to Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO), an IRGC’s close ally

– Iran Darou Company

– Drug-maker Tolid Darou Company

– Sobhan Oncology Company

– KBC Company (Import)

– Alborz Distribution Company (drug distribution)

– Etela-e Alborz Investment Company

– Alborz Balk Company

– Farabi Pharmacy

– Razak Pharmacy

– Ati Farmad Company

– Biosan Company

– Alborz-Zagros Company

– Ghadir Investment Company

– Darougar Holding affiliated to Bonyad-e Shahid [Martyr Foundation]

Therefore, Iranian officials’ claims like ‘sanctions,’ ‘U.S. prohibitions,’ and ‘not permissions for banking transactions’ are baseless pretenses to refuse to import standard vaccines and immunize the public. The government’s excuses are a flagrant confession to their ominous intentions for ensuring the state-backed mafia’s privileges at the expense of citizens’ lives and health.

Moreover, the Iranian government’s terrorism, human rights violations, and nuclear ambitions prompted the international community to impose and reimpose sanctions. The officials would not spend the country’s resources to contain the pandemic and did not consider any budget for purchasing Covid-19 vaccines in the 2021-22 budget bill.

Instead, they would gain a multi-million wealth windfall to cover their terrorist and nuclear bomb-making expenditures, as well as providing new equipment for the IRGC and the State Security Forces (SSF) to counter probable protests and upheavals.

“Even if the Covid-19 vaccine was produced [inside the country], it would face the barrier of ‘untransparent economy,’” said Keyhan Azadmanesh, chief of the Iranian vaccine-maker company, pointing out the state-backed medicine mafia. “This barrier prevents us from planning how much doses of medicine should be produced at what price?” he added.

The Nightmare of Rising Prices and Housing Rent in Iran

The Outcome of the Government’s Delay and Refusal for Purchasing Covid-19 Vaccine

The profiteering policy applied by the government and IRGC-owned pharmacies practically claims more lives. According to the Iranian opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI), as of December 16, at least 186,200 people have lost their lives to the coronavirus. The Health Ministry claims that the fatalities are around 52,883 cases, severely challenged by officials, professionals, and state-run media.

However, the government’s delay and refusal to purchase credible vaccines, as well as their untransparent measures, are a kind of playing with fire. Because the people “will undoubtedly protest” when they “witness the disease has quelled in many countries, including neighboring countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan,” due to the consumption of credible vaccines, according to health expert and member of the Covid-19 Task Force Dr. Mohammad Reza Mahboub-Far.

“If our neighboring countries carry out vaccination and we still remain waiting, the social resilience will finish, and it would appear in the form of street protests,” Dr. Mahboub-Far sounded alarms on December 12.

Child Abuse on the Rise in Iran

Staff Writer
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Child Abuse on the Rise in Iran

Child abuse in Iran increased 12.5 percent in 2019, according to Abbas Masjedi Arani, head of the National Coroner’s Office, while Reza Jafari, head of the Social Emergency Department of the Welfare Organization, said that child abuse was the most common form of domestic violence in the country, citing 16,000 cases in six months in 2017.

As bad as this is, it may well be a vast underestimate because Mehrdad Motallebi, the social affairs deputy for the Welfare Organization in West Azerbaijan Province, said that 13,000 cases were registered in that province between March 2017 and March 2018.

Psychologist Hashem Varzi said that the type of child abuse is changing and that phenomena like “child laborers, addicted children, [and] child brides are not even included in the statistics.

“Neglecting the basic needs and rights of a child such as nutrition, health, shelter, adequate clothing, security, love, and education are also obvious examples of child abuse,” he said.

The Future of Iran and Its Children Is in Danger

The main reason for the incredible levels of child abuse is that the laws fail to punish it effectively and, therefore, fail to prevent it. Domestic violence is not a separate crime in Iran, the bills that are supposed to protect women and children are constantly held up in the Parliament (Majlis) or judiciary, and many laws exist that violate children’s rights, including honor killings and child marriage.

Iran’s Guardian Council even objected to parents/legal guardians/others responsible for the care of children being fined or imprisoned is a child in their care died, lost one of the senses, lost a body part, or was injured on any part of their body, including the head, face or neck, as a result of “negligence, carelessness, lack of skill, or failure to observe”.

Meanwhile, the government amputates hands for petty theft.

Worse still, child abuse in Iran has risen during the coronavirus pandemic due to rising social ills like poverty and mental health problems.

“Violence against children has increased fivefold. Before the Coronavirus crisis, the cases involved physical violence against children and even rape. The difference today is that the beating of children by their parents is constantly being repeated,” said social harms researcher Mohammad Reza Mahboubfar.

And, of course, girls are more likely to be victims than boys because of the regime’s ingrained misogyny.

The Systematic Trafficking of Iranian Girls

Salamatnews.ir wrote back in 2018 that 52 percent of abused children are girls and 57 percent of abusers are fathers. This was backed up as recently as November by the Welfare Organization in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari Province.

Iran’s 2021-22 Budget Bill, A Perfect View of Government’s Dilemmas and Crises

Esmaeil Mohades
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Iran’s 2021-22 Budget Bill, A Perfect View of Government’s Dilemmas and Crises

Since December 2, when Hassan Rouhani’s administration submitted the 2021-22 budget bill to the Parliament (Majlis), there has not been a day without political rivalries about a strange amount of budget deficits and other dilemmas in Iran. In this context, MPs, officials, and even Rouhani’s allies admit that the government would face further economic obstacles in the upcoming year.

The Iranian authorities’ problem is rooted in a set of socioeconomic crises, corruption, and mismanagement seriously affecting the people’s livelihood, and it would ignite a new round of nationwide protests at every moment. Furthermore, citizens must deal with the novel coronavirus on the one hand, and on the other hand, they have to endure the coronavirus’s ominous consequences while the government has left them without support.

A Look at Iran’s 2020-2021 Budget

In this respect, the 2021-22 budget bill is a perfect view of all dilemmas that the government confronts. More importantly, this issue has been activated while authorities see no solution for the current crises and are challenged by unprecedented public hatred.

Therefore, officials are severely concerned about leaking the actual government’s expenditure and revenue despite all political rivalries. However, loyalists to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who have been convinced that they would form the next cabinet, do not want to endure the ends of Rouhani’s fake statistics and hollow figures.

In the 2021-22 budget bill, the Rouhani government did not consider the expenditure of purchasing the Covid-19 vaccine, according to MPs. Officials also did not care about over one million employees and workers who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Moreover, the bill has no article for paying arrears and delayed paychecks of selfless medical staff, let alone millions of employees, teachers, retirees, and public services workers.

The authorities’ cross-party concern is how to cover the predicted budget. In other words, neither MPs nor other officials do not actually mention people’s dilemmas and hardships during their speeches. For instance, former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander and the current Secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei said, “We still remain under sanctions until the next five years. How is it possible that we sell oil over 2 million barrels [per day (BPD)] during the next year?”

Iran’s Main Oil Company Owes $34-billion to the Banking System

Chief of the Majlis Research Center Alireza Zakani also highlighted the deficits. “The 2021-22 budget bill has exactly a 3.2 quadrillion rials [$12.307 billion] of deficits. This means the shaping of hyper-inflation. It means that we deposit meager money into people’s pockets, then withdraw tenfold of that from the people,” Zakani said.

“Economists believe that the next year’s budget bill without oil revenue and the Central Bank [of Iran (CBI)]’s loans are equivalent to 6 quadrillion rials [$23.077 billion] of deficits. This amount is 13 times the credit line of Mehr Housing projects or the people’s cash subsidies. The approval of [the 2021-22 budget dill] leads the country to hyperinflation in the next year,” Javan daily affiliated to the IRGC wrote on December 13.

The flagrant flaws of Rouhani’s budget bill even prompted his allies to express concern. “In the administration’s proposed budget bill to the Majlis, there is a focus on increasing current expenditures and relying on unreal and unachievable resources. As a result of the 60-percent increase in public expenditures and insignificant growth of incomes, the government proposed to cover 3.2 quadrillion rials [$12.307 billion] of its costs—including payments and pensions—through selling the estates and properties or loans,” wrote Jahan-e Sanat daily linked to Rouhani’s faction on December 13.

“Expert examinations show that due to unreal reliance on oil revenues, the government still lacks around 3.2 quadrillion rials [$12.307 billion] of deficits to cover its regular expenditures even if it could sell all bonds… This amount of deficit would increase liquidity and result in severe inflation in the upcoming years… Inflation imposes pressure on the impoverished classes of society more than others,” Jahan-e Sanat added.

On the other hand, in its December 13 edition, Hamdeli daily cited an expert’s remarks about social crises and warnings about possible upheavals on behalf of slum-dwellers due to falling below the poverty and absolute poverty lines. “Based on what rationale do we decrease the budget that was supposed to raise welfare indicators in slum-dwelling areas, while we realize that many of the post-revolution social unrest began from these districts? We know that social harms are tied with ‘society’s security,’” Hamdeli wrote.

Iran experts argue that Iranian officials only remember the people’s problems when they want to address potential protests, which can trigger the end of the Islamic Republic. However, their solutions are designated to nip protests in the bud, not focusing on how to resolve the people’s problems.

Tehran’s Desperation Against Economic Crisis

In reality, the government announces that it has cut all its relations with the people while it responds to social and economic grievances with lethal force and does not consider people’s dilemmas in the country’s annual budget bill. During the bloody suppression of November 2019, the people realized that under the rule of the ayatollahs and IRGC, they have no share of their homeland’s resources other than poverty and misery. And all indicators display that the army of hungry people, slum-dwellers, and abandoned and needy citizens await an opportunity to release their fury against the entire ruling system, as the Hamdeli author sounded the alarm bells.

Facts on State-Sponsored Violence Against Iranian Women

Staff Writer
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Facts on State-Sponsored Violence Against Iranian Women

Most violence against Iranian women is perpetrated by state agents, according to the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and here were will run down exactly how.

Violence Against Human Rights Activists

Female human rights defenders are regularly subjected to state-sponsored violence, with the authorities only intensifying its crackdown in recent years, viewing all human rights as threats to national security and failing to abide by the rights enshrined by the United Nations.

Human rights defenders are routinely subjected to:

  • torture
  • mock executions
  • denial of medical care
  • violence
  • sleep deprivation
  • arbitrary arrest
  • unfair trials
  • the violent dispersal of protests
  • travel bans
  • harassment of their relatives

Furthermore, human rights lawyers are routinely arrested to prevent them from defending their clients.

Iran: Khamenei’s Lieutenants Order Their Thugs to Carry Out Acid Attacks

Violent Arbitrary Arrests

The security apparatus arrests anyone who opposes them, using the State Security Force (SSF), the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the paramilitary Bassij, and even universities’ disciplinary committees to restrict freedom of thought, expression, and gathering.

Many women are arrested violently in public or at their houses, without legal warrants, and over the past year have been kept in prisons that do not meet minimum hygienic requirements at any time, let alone during a pandemic.

Here are just some of those arrested in 2020:

  • Melika Gharagozlou
  • Saba Azarpake
  • Maryam Khoshandam
  • Farzaneh Jalali
  • Roghieh Hassanzadeh
  • Somayyeh Namadmal
  • Zohreh Sarv
  • Kowsar Karimi
  • Parizad Hamidi

Iranian Women Lack Access to Justice

Political prisoners and many ordinary prisoners do not have access to justice, with legal proceedings failing to conform to their own laws, let alone international ones. Often, they are placed in solitary and forced to make false confessions under torture with no contact with the outside world, let alone a lawyer.

Many go on hunger strike in the hope of getting a lawyer.

Treatment of Political Prisoners

In addition, political prisoners are routinely brutalized as the authorities hope to gain false confessions, cooperation, or information. If this violence fails, then they deprive the prisoner of medical treatment or have ordinary prisoners harass them.

The Women’s Committee has issued several statements about this over the past year, especially the cases of:

  • Zahra Safaei, who was threatened in June by several inmates hired by the Intelligence Ministry, attacked in August by two inmates and denied treatment for a heart stroke in October.
  • Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, who is deprived of visits with her political prisoner and cancer patient husband, Arash Sadeghi, and was summoned by the IRGC Intelligence to undergo interrogations for a new case filed against her.

Execution of Women in Iran

Iran is the world leader in the execution of women, with 109 women executed since 2013, despite the fact that many were domestic abuse victims with no legal recourse against their husbands (i.e. divorce or imprisonment).

Most of the women executed are themselves victims of domestic violence and discriminatory family laws. Many acts in self-defense against mistreatment by their husbands and a system that miserably fails to protect them.

Iran: World Record Hold in Domestic Violence

The death sentences are issued at the end of unfair, closed-door trials coupled with torture to force prisoners into making confessions.

In a letter published on July 27, 2019, political prisoner Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, addressed the issue of women convicted of murder and sentenced to death:

“In meeting women convicted of murder, I learned that a large percentage of them had murdered their husbands —instantly or based on a premeditated plan—after years of being humiliated, insulted, battered, and even tortured by them and because of being deprived of their right to divorce. Although, they consider themselves criminals but are convinced that if any of their repeated appeals for divorce had been granted, they would not have committed such a crime.”

Iran: Civil Rights and Cultural Activists Arrested, Further Detentions Expected

Jubin Katiraie
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Iran: Civil Rights and Cultural Activists Arrested, Further Detentions Expected

According to human rights activists, Iranian authorities have begun a new wave of arrests in Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran. In their latest oppressive operation, the State Security Forces (SSF) targeted cultural activists in the city of Ahvaz. Locals reported the SSF has detained at least five activists and transferred them to unknown places.

In this respect, on December 11, the human rights association No to Prison – No to Execution stated, “A day after the detention of Fatemeh Tamimi, a cultural activist from Ahvaz, in Jarahi district, authorities detained at least four others. Maryam Ameri, Tamimi’s partner, is among arrestees.”

“Since ten days ago, security institutions time and again summoned and interrogated Ameri. However, on December 10, they finally detained her,” the report added.

It is said that security forces had raided Ameri’s home and confiscated her laptop, smartphone, and a few memory cards, in addition to detaining and transferring her to an unidentified place. Her family’s efforts for achieving information about her fate stayed fruitless and her whereabouts and condition remained secret.

Ameri and Tamimi were collecting traditional stories, lullabies, and songs in the Arabic language from local villages. They were publishing these pieces on Tamimi’s Instagram page—followed by 25,000 people—to register them as part of the region’s history. According to sources familiar with their efforts, they had prepared a 20-part documentary and were on the verge of publishing it. Maryam Ameri had previously managed the Gargi’an cultural ceremony, which is a celebration for children.

Iran: Human Rights Situation in November 2020

Simultaneously, authorities detained a civil rights activist Azhar Albo-Ghabish and his two brothers Abbas and Reza in Shadegan city. All of them were under 20 years old. Locals said that Albo-Ghabish’s activities were limited to aiding needy people across the city.

Human rights activists condemned this arrest, saying, “all their activities were carried out peacefully and according to Iran’s constitution.” They believe that the government attempts to divert civil rights activities to pave the path for more restrictions on civil rights and cultural actions. Activists demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees.

According to reports, the SSF also arrested a female teacher Zeinab Savari alongside her brother and little sister in Hoveizeh city on December 11. According to eyewitnesses, the government seemingly intends to continue these arbitrary and illegal arrests in the upcoming days.

The detention of cultural and civil activists intensified following the execution of Iranian journalist Ruhollah Zam on December 12, which prompted international condemnation against human rights violations in Iran. However, according to opposition activists, Iranian authorities see suppression as the sole instrument to counter public hatred and silence citizens’ grievances and fundamental demands.

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